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Duke Seeded No. 4; Will Host Albany Friday
DURHAM, N.C. – The 16th-ranked Duke women’s basketball team received its 21st straight and 22nd overall NCAA Tournament selection Monday. The Blue Devils (21-10) were seeded No. 4 in the Spokane Region and will play 13th-seeded Albany (24-8) in the first round Friday, March 20, 2015 at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C. The game will be televised live on ESPN2 and will tip at 12:00 p.m. (EST).
The Blue Devils have earned one of the top eight seeds in 14 out of the last 15 years in the NCAA Tournament and are coming off Elite Eight appearances in four out of the last five years. The No. 4 seed is the lowest for the Blue Devils since the 1997 campaign as the Blue Devils snapped a streak of five straight years as a No. 2 seed.
Albany is making its fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance after taking down Hartford, 84-75, March 13in the America East Conference Championship. The Great Danes have been led by Shereesha Richards (21.3 points, 9.0 rebounds), Imani Tate (14.1 points, 6.1 rebounds) and Sarah Royals (9.3 points, 2.5 rebounds) on the season.
Duke and Albany have faced each other two times with the Blue Devils leading the overall series 2-0. Both meetings took place in Durham, N.C., with the last contest being held Dec. 19, 2013 with Duke posting an 81-51 victory. Blue Devil head coach Joanne P. McCallie will go up against one of her former coaches as Katie Abrahamson-Henderson was an assistant coach at Michigan State from 2000-02 with McCallie.
The winner of the Duke/Albany game will advance to face the winner of the No. five seed Mississippi State vs. No. 12 seed Tulane game, which will tip at approximately 2:30 p.m. The second round contest will be played Sunday, March 22 at 12 p.m., in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Mississippi State is currently ranked No. 12 nationally and received an at-large bid to the tournament. On the season, Victoria Vivians (15.1 points, 65 treys), Martha Alwal (9.9 points, 6.8 rebounds) and Morgan William (8.9 points, 129 free throws) have led the Bulldogs. Mississippi State will be making its seventh appearance in the NCAAs.
Tulane was awarded an at-large selection in the NCAA Tournament and will be making its 11th appearance. The Green Wave have been paced by Kolby Morgan (12.0 points, 4.5 rebounds), Danielle Blagg (9.4 points, 58 treys) and Leslie Vorpahl (7.5 points, 36 treys) on the season.
The Blue Devils received an at-large invitation to the 2015 NCAA Tournament, after totaling a 21-10 overall and 11-5 league mark record on the season. Duke is currently ranked No. 16 nationally in the Associated Press ledger, after advancing to the ACC Championship semifinals. In the latest NCAA RPI, the Blue Devils are No. 14 nationally and boasts the fifth-best strength of schedule in the nation.
Head coach Joanne P. McCallie, who was the 2013, 2012 and 2010 ACC Coach of the Year, has guided the Blue Devils to another standout season in 2014-15 even with the loss of sophomore Oderah Chidom and Lyneé Belton to season-ending injuries. Duke is down to only eight recruited scholarship student-athletes heading into the tournament.
McCallie became the quickest ACC coach in league history this year to register 100 ACC wins in only 122 contests earlier this season.
Duke has been led by senior Elizabeth Williams on the year as the four-time First Team All-ACC selection enters her final NCAA Tournament run.
A native of Virginia Beach, Va., Williams has averaged 14.7 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.9 blocks and 1.6 steals for the Blue Devils. She currently ranks 16th in the NCAA in blocks and currently leads all centers nationally with a 2.5 assist per game average. The 6-3, three-time All-America and four-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year owns 10 double-doubles on the year, including five in ACC action.
The Duke rookie tandem of Azurá Stevens and Rebecca Greenwell have both made immediate impacts on the Blue Devil program.
Stevens, who hails from Raleigh, N.C., has totaled one of the best freshman campaigns in school history averaging 14.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.9 steals. She was a four-time ACC Freshman of the Week honoree during the regular season, which ranked as the fourth-most by a Duke rookie in school history. The 6-5 All-ACC Freshman selection enters the NCAA Tournament posting double-doubles in five of her final seven contests and owns a total of nine on the year.
A product of Owensboro, Ky., Greenwell has averaged 14.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.9 steals on the season. Her 62 three-pointers made is a new Duke freshman record, while also ranking sixth on the ACC single-season freshman charts. In the ACC stats, Greenwell ranks 14th in scoring, seventh in free throw percentage (81.1), sixth in steals, sixth in three-point field goals made per game (2.0) and tied fourth in average minutes (34.2).
Entering the 2015 NCAAs, the Blue Devils own an all-time record of 53-21 in NCAA Tournament play and are 54-22 in all postseason action. The Blue Devils have won 19 out of the last 20 NCAA Tournament contests in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke has advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 15 out of the last 17 years and reached the NCAA Final Four in 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2006. As a conference, the ACC received eight bids in 2015 -- Duke, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Syracuse, Florida State, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Miami.
Tickets can be purchased by heading to www.GoDuke.com.com or calling the Duke Ticket Office at (919) 681-2583.
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Duke Quotes on NCAA Selection
Senior Ka’lia Johnson:
“It’s great to get at least one more game in Cameron – it’s very exciting. Every team in this tournament is very, very good. Albany’s a great team and they’re well-coached so it’s going to be a good game.”
On what the team has been working on since the ACC Tournament:
“Just those small mental mistakes. When it comes to the tournament, mental mistakes can either help you win a game or help you lose a game. So just being sharp for 40 minutes and just carrying that momentum from the second half of that Notre Dame game over because we did some really great things in that game, so to just carry that out and win the game.”
“We played them, I believe, last year, so I know they have a really good forward who gave us some good numbers. They’re just a great team. Every team is great so we’ve got to come in expecting to play hard and play our best.”
On playing in Cameron:
“Very exciting, especially as a senior, to definitely get this one game in the NCAA Tournament. There’s so much pride, to have other teams come and play in your gym. Cameron is such a great stadium, so to have this one last game means a lot.”
Senior Elizabeth Williams:
“I think everyone’s in that intense mode, in that tournament mode, so we’ll just continue that moving forward.”
“Just a lot of focus. This is a good time for us to get within ourselves. This is our last chance to play together with this specific team, and I think we really enjoy that, so we’re going to try to keep it going as long as we can.”
Head coach Joanne P. McCallie
“We’re just excited to have an opponent and to play. Obviously it’s an honor to host anytime in the NCAA Tournament, so we’re excited. We hope fans can come out. It’s a different time, but it’s great for us and a great opportunity.”
On the noon start:
“We’ve played them before. We only had one this year, but that was away. It’s anytime, anywhere, any place at this point. It’s a great opportunity to get out there and play well, really get after it, be successful and move on.”
“Albany is a great, great program. My former assistant, Katie Abrahamson-Henderson coaches there and she’s done a fabulous job with the program – really, really good. They have some nice players. Like everybody in this tournament, they are a very good team. So you’ve really got to get after it and be in attack mode.”
